Aitor Karanka praises Middlesbrough's mentality after beating Sheffield Wednesday

Aitor Karanka admits it took some half-time home truths to inspire his Middlesbrough team to their 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup third round.

The teams went into the break level after an uninspiring first half at the Riverside and Karanka concedes his side were not at the level he initially expected against their Sky Bet Championship opponents.

Boro improved in the second half and despite having Daniel Ayala sent off, won comfortably through goals from Grant Leadbitter, Alvaro Negredo and Marten de Roon.

Karanka said: "The second half was totally different. I told them at half-time I thought we were playing a friendly game and the FA Cup is not a friendly. It was a really important game.

"Sometimes it is difficult to go on the pitch against a team from a lower division and get the right mentality. In the second half we went out with the right attitude and mentality.

"When we lost Danny we were really consistent on the pitch. Everybody was fighting for every single ball and that was the main thing for me."

Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal refused to blame his players after seeing them suffer their heaviest defeat of the season.

The Portuguese admitted they paid for his decision to press for a goal with the game still level before Leadbitter opened the scoring with a free-kick while Negredo's crucial second came via a fortunate ricochet.

Carvalhal said: "I am happy with my players and the way they played against a Premier League team. It is not easy against Boro because all the time they are balanced.

"They don't give chances to counter attack against any team. I am unhappy with the score, of course, but it was the circumstances of the game that made us lose.

"We win together and we lose together. I don't put any responsibility on any player because it is a team game.

"It was not because we did not try or put our energy into the game that we lost. We were playing almost with four attackers when the game was 0-0.

"But the first and second goals were strange in the way they came and we must give congratulations to Middlesbrough. I'm not unhappy with my players. We tried everything at the end."